Keyword cannibalization occurs when Information about the multiple pages on a single site are optimized for the same keyword. This scattered content leads to the denmark telegram data division of each page’s authority, rather than its unification.
Keyword cannibalization is an easy phenomenon to understand. Identifying it, however, can be difficult. Some keywords are used frequently because they relate to general topics. Others, however, are specific and are usually covered in depth in a single post.
To help us detect the phenomenon of SEO cannibalization, we are currently developing a new tool: the semantic crawler. More information coming soon 🙂
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Definition of keyword cannibalizatio
It is necessary to differentiate between the phenomenon of cannibalization and duplication of content.
Using the same keywords in a small number of publications is not a problem. Cannibalization only occurs when a large number of publications use the same keyword for the same main topic. In these articles, the keyword may be repeated more than ten times. Therefore, publishing multiple articles on the same topic may be characteristic of a thematic inconsistency .
Does keyword cannibalization hurt SEO?
A high number of posts optimized for the same keyword can have negative consequences on SEO . Search engines are reluctant to rank a post well when there are other similar articles on the same site.
The search engine may conclude that these publications are incomplete and fail to provide a sufficiently relevant answer.
Obviously, some articles are more comprehensive than others, especially if you use long-tail keywords. However, keep in mind that it’s in your best interest to merge similar posts. A longer article isn’t necessarily harder to read.
How to avoid keyword cannibalization?
Seasoned web writers avoid keyword cannibalization by specifying the main keyword of their other posts . This way, they avoid reusing the same keyword and adopt a more specific and unique angle.
Avoiding keyword cannibalization requires you to keep track of each post and its keywords. If you plan your content writing months in advance, you already know which articles are about to be written and can easily avoid these repetitions. On the other ai agent orchestration explained: how and why? hand, if you write your content without planning, consider:
- choose the main keywords for your article
- check if these keywords are already used on your blog
- If they have already been used: update the existing post
- If not: write the post as originally planned
To check if you are already covering the subject on your blog, a simple Google command like site:mysite.com [KEYWORD]
Additionally, to avoid keyword repetition, writers use brazil data synonyms . However, be aware that search engines are now able to group words with similar meanings together.
How to check if there has been keyword cannibalization?
You can audit your content using a spreadsheet in which you list the main keywords for each post. Then, check if a keyword has been used twice or more. This is the most accurate way to conduct a thorough audit to identify SEO cannibalization.
Example of SEO cannibalization case detected by SEOQuantum (semantic crawler tool):
Cannibalization isn’t common on smaller blogs. In our example, we crawled the entirety of WebrankInfo’s excellent blog, which contains several hundred articles on SEO.
In our example, a case of cannibalization was spotted on the following two pages:
The information has been forwarded to the Webrankinfo team, and a content correction is underway. This cannibalization was also detected by their zombie page method.
This type of tool is useful when you have hundreds or even thousands of publications to analyze. Reading them all would take weeks, which is clearly unrealistic.
SEO consultants address cannibalization by focusing on keyword management, user intent, semantics, internal linking, and merging duplicate pages.
There are no quick fixes for bloggers who want to fix keyword cannibalization: you should definitely review all your posts on the same topic and choose one of the solutions presented below.